This copy is for your personal non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies of Toronto Star content for distribution to colleagues, clients or customers, or inquire about permissions/licensing, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com

Time to stop nutty war on cars

As I inched my car along Wellesley St. East in morning traffic earlier this week, I watched a lone bicyclist merrily speed by me in his designated bike lane.

For cyclists like him, the recently installed bike lane on Wellesley is a welcome development.

But for fuming motorists like me, the bike lane is an unmitigated disaster because it has narrowed the street, slowing traffic and significantly increasing commuting time. And then there's all the extra pollution caused by having our cars and trucks stuck longer in traffic.

The Wellesley bike lane – used only by that one cyclist as I sat idling in traffic – is just another scrimmage in the rapidly escalating "war on cars" raging these days across Toronto.

Currently, the anti-car crowd is winning the war.

Article Continued Below

To them, the car has been king far too long and it's time to put motorists like me in our place.

This vocal faction has fought hard to make Toronto a city where drivers are often scorned as uncaring creatures who don't give a damn about the environment and who would refuse any effort to get us out of our cars and walk, bike or ride public transit to work, shop and play.

For my part, I confess I like to drive my car in the city. By driving, I can cut 30 to 45 minutes off each one-way commute. I can get to appointments on time. I can pick up groceries and still reach the arena before my hockey game starts.

I have a bike, but use it mainly for pleasure, riding along bike paths away from traffic.

While many motorists like the concept of taking public transit to work and shops, the truth is buses run too infrequently to be convenient. Residents in Scarborough and North York speak of taking 90 minutes to travel by bus and subway from home to downtown.

For me, it is time city leaders did something to actually improve – not hinder – motor vehicle traffic.

Unfortunately, every move the anti-car lobby at city hall has made in recent years has led to more traffic congestion, not less.

Article Continued Below

Dedicated and slightly elevated streetcar lanes on Spadina, Queens Quay and now St. Clair are a nightmare for traffic flow.

New bike lanes abound. But, let's be honest, hardly any cyclists use them. Indeed, fewer than 2 per cent of commuters travel by bike. Regardless of how many more kilometres of bike lanes are set aside, that percentage isn't likely to grow much, if at all.

Bike lanes slow traffic by narrowing the road, but anti-car supporters dismiss such concerns. Last week, city council approved the removal of the reversible centre lane on Jarvis St. in favour of bike lanes. Supporters claim it will increase travel time by only two minutes. Judging by my experience on Wellesley, they are dead wrong.

Next on the anti-car lobby agenda is the narrowing of Queens Quay to two lanes from four, the possibility of tearing down more of the Gardiner Expressway, tolls on the Don Valley Parkway, a possible bike lane running from Scarborough to Etobicoke, including long stretches of Danforth and Bloor. Other bike lanes are being considered for University Ave.

Like the anti-car, pro-bike group, I support the idea of a city that is more pedestrian and bike-friendly. I also agree bike lanes make it safer for cyclists while reducing slightly the number of cars on the road.

To end this nutty war, the city first needs to improve public transit and make the buses, streetcars and subway run more frequently.

But closing more car lanes or narrowing more streets would only add to the traffic madness.

And if the goal is to get me out of my car, that isn't the way to do it.

More from The Star & Partners

LOADING

Copyright owned or licensed by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or distribution of this content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited and/or its licensors. To order copies of Toronto Star articles, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com